Don't Say A Word
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Darcy is in a science bunker, cut off from everything, when SHIELD falls apart. Clint makes sure she knows what's happening; they both worry about Coulson and what could happen next.


_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing._

_**Author Note: **Set during 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier.'_

* * *

**DON'T SAY A WORD**

The first that Darcy knew about it was thanks to a text message from Clint. The thing was, she was hunkered down in what amounted to a scientist bunker somewhere in England with Jane and Erik and a couple of trusty SHIELD agents watching the door for them – a gift from Coulson, proving that he was in fact the Man in every sense of the phrase. Darcy already had her eye on learning more of the kind of administrative badassery that Coulson frequently demonstrated non-too-subtly in her direction when he threw work her way now and then. He totally wanted her scientist-wrangling skills on the SHIELD payroll in a more locked-down sense. Clint had assured her that SHIELD wages were awesome and their vacation days way above average and that there was also some danger money to be had if admin was ever called for in the field.

Anyway, Darcy was in a scientist bunker, cut off from civilization as she knew it, jonesing for actual fresh air and coffee that didn't almost burn a hole in her stomach. Jane was doing something probably-fascinating with Darcy's newest data collations and Erik was spending some quality time with another large stack of books when Darcy's stomach growled. She'd just beaten Clint's latest Candy Crush score – in your face, Hawkeye – so purposefully hopped off the table she'd been perched on for way too long.

"Taking refueling orders. Speak now."

Erik asked for a more herbal tea than he would have ever gone for before Loki but he had more color to his cheeks now and Darcy nudged his back and squeezed his elbow as she passed him because she'd been seriously worried about him since she and Jane had returned to New York. Erik was still getting therapy but he hadn't yet backed away from his work. Darcy was all kinds of proud of him and still worried because Clint had told her a little bit about being mind-whammied by Loki and it'd sounded fucked up and terrifying. She shivered just thinking about it.

Jane didn't ask for anything, she was in that zen-science place so Darcy scooped up Jane's mug with a plan to brew some fertile and delicious caffeine that'd help Jane prove Tony wrong, again. Darcy was strolling purposefully out of the door and mentally calculating if there was enough cheese left in the kitchen to make a couple of rounds of sandwiches when she nearly ran into their familiar SHIELD escort.

"Miss Lewis," Charlton nodded at her, assessing her with his usual ultra-professional gaze.

"Hey, Charlie, Wai-Wai," Darcy greeted both suits. "I'm going for a refuel, you guys want anything?"

"The usual would be great," Wai who had a great shooting-range score according to Clint and decent hand-to-hand according to Natasha and in Darcy's experience mixed a great cocktail, smiled.

Darcy bumped hips with her as she passed. Once she was inside the small but reasonably-stocked kitchen, she closed the door behind her; it was habit now after some lessons from Clint and Natasha. According to them, there was no such thing as being too paranoid and it was always good to give potential problems an extra layer to break through, particularly when working in an unknown environment. Darcy had only been at the bunker for a few weeks and had Charlton and Wai as bodyguards extraordinaire – God, they had to be bored, if Clint had been around he would have been literally crawling the walls. Still, Darcy had survived a couple of alien invasion situations and since Natasha and Clint were super-spies who'd triumphed in Bond-like scenarios, she'd started taking her own safety, and Jane's and Erik's, way more seriously. Her taser went with her everywhere of course; it'd stopped a God of Thunder.

As the kettle boiled, Darcy's phone buzzed in her pocket. That was weird, seeing as no signal actually existed down in the bunker. That definitely couldn't be good. Darcy fished her phone out of her pocket and found a message from Clint, of course he'd found a way to get through.

_SHIELD compromised. SHIELD compromised._

For a second, Darcy froze. Then the kettle screeched and she jumped with a yelp, clapping a hand over her mouth a second later. Fuck. Compromised? So, what, someone had found a way into SHIELD without authorization? Or was there was a mole? Someone who probably wanted to get their grubby hands on SHIELD secrets and important data and people like Jane because Jane's brain was now a national treasure considering the wonders she'd worked with the Asgardian rainbow bridge. Darcy texted back options with shaking fingers.

_Safehouse? Air travel? Tony's jet?_

Darcy had a hand on the door handle, ready to emerge and talk things over with Wai and Charlton because they had to be trained in this kind of procedure when she heard a gunshot. Shock flooding through her, she veered sharply away from the door immediately and dropped under the counter, out of sight. She started to shake.

Her phone buzzed again, _OVER HALF OF SHIELD ROTTEN. H__YDRA WORM IN APPLE. BE CAREFUL_

That explained the gunshot, Darcy thought distantly. Using her phone, she flicked to a newsite online and found the kind of explosive news stories that Fox loved – Captain America was the most wanted man of the moment, because he'd turned on SHIELD. Oh fuck. No way, _no way._ SHIELD had turned on Steve. That only confirmed Clint's messages. Darcy trusted Steve, he wasn't just Captain America, he was her friend. So were Clint and Natasha, surely they were the kind of people that the SHIELD/Hydra agents would go after first because Clint and Natasha knew all about working for the other side and how to neutralize it.

Okay. Were Jane and Erik all right? Had they been taken already? Or worse? Fuck. Darcy sent a quick message to both – _Hydra in SHIELD, could be Wai or Charlton. Am in kitchen._ She hoped that Jane actually remembered to check her phone.

Worm in the apple. Darcy felt sick, thinking about the agents she'd joked with in the hallway or eaten lunch with, the ones that she'd watched sparring with Clint or Natasha, the ones who'd worked with her, flirted with her and held open doors for her.

This was fucked up.

Captain America was enemy number one. Clint and Natasha had to be hiding out and making plans, doing what they did best. Where was Dr Banner? No one, not even Hydra would try to take on the Hulk, would they? And what about Tony and Pepper? Weren't all of Tony's suits destroyed? Fuck. This was Tony's most furious outburst realized.

Her heart racing, Darcy peeked through the door's wide glass window. Her eyes widened at what she saw; Charlton was sprawled on the floor and Wai was stood over him, her gun aimed right at his chest. Her eyes, they'd been dancing before, now they were hard and God, she was going to look up and see Darcy. Darcy jerked away, clutching her phone tightly. Maybe Wai would forget about the intern who'd gone to make coffee and maybe toast a sandwich. Wai had asked for her usual – a very sweet milky coffee, the closest that they could get to a latte down in the bunker.

Darcy had bar-hopped with Wai before, they'd sung karaoke together. Darcy had watched Wai flirt with a very hot barman and had heard her stories of the hell that was SHIELD training and how proud her parents were of her for making a difference, even if she wasn't part of the military like they'd always wanted. Wai had been a friend.

Darcy plunged her free hand into her jacket pocket and was relieved to grasp her taser. Fuck yes. There was a thud from outside the door. Was that good or bad?

_Wai's Hydra. Charlton's down._

There was no reply from Clint. Darcy was severely tempted to text Coulson or Sky but was one of_ them_ Hydra? That didn't seem possible; Sky was all for anarchy but Hydra was so opposite to everything she was about. And Coulson...Darcy hated that thought and tried to squash it. Coulson was so many things but a traitor to SHIELD? That just couldn't be possible.

Although Wai had just shot her fellow SHIELD agent in cold blood. Darcy had seen aliens stride around on Earth, she'd tasered the God of Thunder, but that kind of human switch was what made her shake her head.

Someone was walking in the hallway outside. Darcy glanced around and wished for one of Clint's ventilation shafts. They were in a bunker, there should be ventilation! Coulson couldn't be Hydra, he was Clint's husband for fuck's sake and Clint was practically a human lie-detector. And Natasha was even more skilled in that area, so if Clint hadn't spotted anything, she would have. Only neither of them had spotted anything in any of their fellow agents who were currently trying to bring down Captain America.

Darcy squeezed her eyes shut. This was so messed up.

God. She was in an underground bunker and one of the world's foremost scientific minds, who also happened to be Darcy's best friend, was probably about to be scooped up by Hydra who'd apparently fucking hollowed out SHIELD. How long had Hydra lain in wait? Did Fury know about this? Because Darcy had read enough of his file to be sure that Hydra's aims were definitely not the same as Nick Fury's. In which case, he had to be enemy number one. Good. Maybe that meant he had a plan or something. God, Darcy hoped so.

She reached up and yanked open a drawer. The bunker's kitchen knives weren't as sharp as Natasha liked them but they'd do in a pinch. Natasha. Darcy texted her one-handed.

_Be safe, please._

Because Darcy did not want to think about how fucked up Clint would be if Natasha was taken or permanently dealt with. Darcy swallowed because she liked Natasha and considered her a friend and Natasha and Clint had worked so hard for their places in SHIELD and it turned out to have been almost a complete lie.

Erik messaged her; he was camped out in the bathrooms. He was sure that Jane had realized something had happened, particularly since he and Darcy had disappeared. Right, now Jane just had to look at her phone. Darcy chewed on a nail. Wai was out there but so was Jane. Thor was on Asgard.

Darcy pocketed her phone, gripped her taser and knife and looked through the door's window again. Wai wasn't there anymore; Darcy honestly had no clue whether that was good or bad. Charlton was still lying out there, so still and bloody. Darcy stared; there was nowhere for Wai to hide in the hallway. Her heart in her mouth, Darcy slowly eased the door open and moved carefully towards Charlton's body, he wasn't breathing and when she checked, she couldn't find a pulse. Darcy stared down at him for a moment, she hadn't known Charlton all that well, he'd been serious but without Coulson's sense of humor (Yes, Coulson had a sense of humor; you just had to listen for it). Charlton had liked playing soccer, Darcy could remember that, and he'd been dedicated to his job. She felt guilty that she didn't know any more about him.

Darcy looked around at every sound and began making her way towards the lab where she'd left Jane. She had to know if Jane was okay. She could hear the hum of the lab equipment and could feel the grossness of sweat trickling down her back which made her twitch. She was going to do this, she should probably hide but Jane would do this for her. She couldn't leave or hide without knowing what'd happened to Jane, she couldn't, no matter how stupid or terrifying it was.

She glanced upwards once, _Heimdall, if you're seeing this, you'd better be sending help._

She actually liked Heimdall, he was wry and kinda awesome because he unnerved Tony so much and seemed amused by that. Darcy had liked talking to him when she'd actually gone to Asgard – she'd gone to_ Asgard,_ she was never going to get tired of thinking that. So yeah, Heimdall was a bro, he'd move right to the top of her list if he showed some willing here.

Texting Erik to let him know what she was doing, Darcy heard what was definitely a footstep behind her and a weaponry click. She froze, her heart thundering so loudly it made her feel sick and dizzy, and clenched her taser even tighter. She was going to die, maybe not now, not while they needed Jane's brain and Jane would refuse to work without familiar assistance, but Darcy knew that this wasn't going to last. That was what bad guys did, they grabbed innocent people and used them as leverage and then got rid of them. And Darcy wasn't just talking from her vast film and TV watching experience, she'd read SHIELD files as part of her on-and-off admin work for Coulson. She knew what could happen.

Her mouth was trembling. She wanted to sit down; she wanted to know that Jane was all right. Her back felt so stiff and straight. Why wasn't Wai doing anything? Sneering or threatening or something? The silence was worse than words; Darcy just wanted to know what was going to happen. Did she get a last phone call? She wanted to hear her mom's voice, just for a little while.

She wanted to shake her head and laugh, because this whole scenario felt like one of the movies-of-the-week that she'd watched so many times before. All that was missing was the hot generic action hero. Of course that was what was missing. Darcy could feel hysteria bubbling through her but she clamped her lips together hard. She didn't want to break the silence now, it felt like the only thing that was holding her up.

What was Wai doing?

"You can turn around now."

Darcy gasped sharply and whirled, the kitchen knife clattering to the ground as she threw herself at Clint. He wrapped her up in a squeeze more than a hug; it was exactly what Darcy needed. She could feel her hands shaking as she dug them into Clint's clothing.

"Watch it with the taser, Darce."

Clint had only gotten tased once before by Darcy – a complete accident – but he'd never forgotten it. She stuffed the taser awkwardly into her pocket and squeezed Clint even tighter. Her limbs hadn't completely stopped shaking yet and she didn't care that Clint knew it.

"Where's Jane?" she asked.

"In the lab, first place I cleared."

Right, of course it was. He'd secured the vital asset first. Darcy let out a breath and stepped out of Clint's arms. He was all in black with dark-purple accents, his bow and quiver piled-up nearby. His gaze was tight though, Darcy was relieved by his appearance but he was still fraught with tension. Oh fuck, what had Hydra done?

"Clint?"

He smiled but it was a hard worried expression, Darcy could recognize that now. "He's not answering."

Oh God. Coulson was out of contact? What did that mean? He was lying low? Or could one of his team be Hydra? Darcy touched Clint's arm firmly and squeezed, because he looked like he could do with some reassurance since answers apparently weren't forthcoming.

"He'd call if he could," she tried, because she knew that much was true. Coulson was nothing if not loyal and reliable.

Clint nodded slightly but didn't look appeased. He was fiddling with his wedding ring, probably without realizing it.

Then he dropped his second bomb, "Tasha's out too."

Darcy's eyes widened, "You don't know where she is?"

Because Clint and Natasha always knew where the other was, even when they weren't supposed to.

"I know she's with Steve, that's all I got before she dumped her phone."

Okay, good, she was with Steve and Steve was with her. They'd look after each other. But Clint still looked tense and worried, because Coulson and Natasha were the two most important people in his world and they'd disappeared and he couldn't talk to either of them.

Darcy's phone buzzed, Erik wanted to know what was going on. Darcy quickly told him to head for the lab, Clint was here. She knew that Erik trusted Clint on a special kind of level, thanks to their shared Loki experience. For a while Erik hadn't wanted to spend any time with Clint because he'd acted as a reminder to Erik of what they'd both been through. He'd gotten past that though and seeing Clint actually helped him now.

"She's with Steve," Darcy said to Clint at last. "That's good, right? Their chances are huge together."

"Even against all of SHIELD and whatever else Hydra's got squared away."

It didn't sound like a question, because Clint had massive faith in Natasha. Darcy did too, but she was worried as well. She grabbed hold of Clint's hand and thought _Heimdall, seriously, a little thunder would be really good right now._

Darcy had never been a regular church-goer, much to her grandmother's major disappointment. And now she'd met aliens who'd been worshiped as gods at one point on Earth, she'd seen so much destruction and she'd met so many amazing people and just as many demented souls, Earth and alien. She didn't know where she registered on the religion scale, but she didn't feel devoid of all spirituality. She couldn't classify it exactly, she just knew what felt right. Talking, praying to Heimdall, felt right.

_Please._

She and Clint made their way to the lab where Jane was waiting; staring at a serious of white-board figures as though they'd personally offended her. She looked up when Darcy walked in and rushed over immediately to hug her. Darcy hugged her back hard.

"We're okay, again."

Jane laughed a little and said something light about how she and Darcy could apparently survive anything now but Darcy could see how tightly Jane's arms were folded. She was freaked out too. Had Wai gotten in here? Wait a minute...

"What happened to Wai?"

Clint jerked his head towards outside of the lab. "Doped and contained her."

So she was probably locked up in a cupboard. Not great but it'd do for now. Darcy shivered, thinking about Wai stood behind her, her gun trained on Darcy. Darcy was sure that Wai had been there, before Clint had arrived and used his spy-assassin mojo to get into the bunker and take down Wai unheard and unseen.

Erik appeared in the doorway at that point, visibly relieved to see that both Jane and Darcy were okay. He thanked Clint who began listing their options from here. He didn't know who could be trusted inside of SHIELD right now and Darcy knew that his mind was still partly fixed on Coulson and Natasha. Of course it was, she couldn't begrudge him that. Darcy's mind was kinda fixed there too, and on Sky and the rest of Coulson's team that she'd gotten to know. Were any of them behind this? Where were Steve and Natasha heading for, and for what? How the fuck were she, Jane and Erik going to hide from Hydra when they had SHIELD's access-all-areas passes?

Clint was here, because he knew how important Jane was and maybe because he'd wanted to see some friendly faces right too. He was making plans to help them even though he had to want to race in whatever direction he thought Coulson was. He definitely counted as an answer from Heimdall. _Thank you._ Okay, this, she could do. Clint kept on making impressive scary spy plans while Jane and Erik talked about the useful implications of their work, Darcy collected up reports and photographs that matched Jane and Erik's words, frequently touched her taser and prayed.

_-the end_


End file.
